Washington Redskins Sign Undrafted NT Vaughn Meatoga

The Washington Redskins have reportedly signed Hawaii nose tackle Vaughn Meatoga, according to Hawaiinewsnow.com. He was left undrafted, but has the size and tenacity to compete for playing time at the most important position on theRedskins' 3-4 defense.

Meatoga is a studious lineman who possesses tremendous balance and leverage. He uses his hands well and is aggressive enough to hold up at the point of attack and violently shed blockers.

At only 294 pounds, he is maybe a little too small for the modern prototype NFL nose tackle position. However, his ability to be active inside and use his initial quickness to shift along the line and create pressure, can be assets to the Redskins.

Some 3-4 schemes have benefited from a smaller player on the nose, and in some ways Meatoga can be compared to former NFL pro Jason Ferguson. Drafted in the seventh round of the 1997 draft by Bill Parcells, Ferguson enjoyed a highly productive career anchoring 3-4 defenses for the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.

Meatoga joins cornerback Chase Minnifield as the second marquee rookie free agent signed by the Redskins. Both additions are smart moves, adding depth and potential at key positions.

Meatoga will be given the opportunity to compete with 2011 seventh-rounder Chris Neild for playing time in a rotation with veteran Barry Cofield.

(Vaughn Meatoga 2012 NFL Combine Video Link)

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Maake Kemoeatu Takes It Easy After Heat Exhaustion

A day after battling heat exhaustion, starting nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu sat out practice Wednesday at Redskins Park.

"It was just the heat, man, it was just hot," Kemoeatu said. "They gave me a break today to get ready for Friday."

The Redskins kick off their preseason schedule Friday night against the Buffalo Bills at FedEx Field. Kemoeatu expects to be in the opening lineup.

"Oh, yeah, man," he said. "That's what I've been working for."

Kemoeatu, who sat out the 2009 season because of an achilles injury, impressed team officials with his tireless work ethic while he rehabbed at the complex for most of the offseason. Ray Wright, Washington's strength and conditioning coach, went to Hawaii before training camp to continue to help Kemoeatu prepare for the season.

Although Kemoeatu, beginning his ninth season, has worked in heat often in his career, the last two days in Ashburn have been especially difficult.

"Man, it's even hotter now with the helmet and the pads," he said. "It's not just the temperature. I was feeling it a lot. Especially yesterday."

Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett has praised Kemoeatu since the former Carolina Panther signed with team in March. "The kid's been fighting through it," Haslett said. "The guy missed all last year with the torn achilles. He hasn't has a day off. He's fought through it.

"He didn't want a day off. I asked him. He said, 'I don't need a day off. I need to get through this.' Cause once you get back, you're wearing helmets, shoulder pads, guys hitting. I think he's done a great job. He's a lot faster than I remember and he's a lot quicker than I remember. He's a big man in the middle."

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Maake Kemoeatu Is A Large Man

Six notes about nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu, the Redskins' newest free agent addition.

The Achilles

Kemoeatu tore his Achilles' tendon on the first day of training camp a year ago, and was on crutches for weeks, although he had some sort of gadget that was supposed to vacuum blood toward his ankle. As you can see above, he was just sort of running, without any contact, when the thing popped.

"I'm bummed out," he told reporters after getting hurt. "They're going to go in there and try and fix it up and see when I can come back. After surgery, they're telling me it will be four weeks at least. So maybe I'll be back for the last month of the season. Every little hope I have is that I'll be back out there with the boys."
Before the end of the week, though, the Panthers placed him on injured reserve, ending his season.

The Size

Kemoeatu is usually listed at 345 pounds, but he has often spoken of himself as "360-plus" in the past. That's evidently what he weighed last fall, when he told the Charlotte Observer he was working with a nutritionist to try to drop 30-40 pounds, largely by eating more fruits and vegetables.

"I'm trying not to eat as much, so I won't have to take off as much," he told the paper. "I've been staying away from the steakhouses. Ruth's Chris and Del Frisco's - I won't see them again until 2011!"


"It's tough," he added. "I come from a family where we get big. The older we get the bigger we get."

Even before his injury, in 2006, he told South Carolina's The Herald that he was over 360.

"I'll be honest with you," quarterback Jake Delhomme told the paper. "He's the biggest human being I've ever seen in my life."

The Herald reported that Kemoeatu wore a size 54 jersey and the largest helmet size available, and that the interior pads of his helmet still had to be shaved down to fit his noggin.

The Passion

He was known for his silence during his college career at Utah, but by his senior year, Coach Ron McBride --who said the nose tackle didn't speak for about three years -- finally convinced Kemoeatu to liven up in the locker room. At that point, he became known for his pre-game ritual

"I'm just doing what the coaches tell me to do -- all the coaches. I'm going to start charging $5 apiece," Kemoeatu told the Deseret News. "I just get at [teammates], scream, hit people on the head. I don't really write out something to get ready for it. It seems to be good so far.

"I'm just trying to get all the guys fired up before the game, get the butterflies out of their stomachs. A lot of guys get nervous before the game, (so I try to) get it out of their system. Hey, it worked for me in high school, so I figured it would work again."

The Haka

Speaking of rituals, this is from the Baltimore Sun in 2002, Kemoeatu's rookie year:

Edwin Mulitalo had company Tuesday for what has become a Rookie Night ritual, his rendition of the "haka," a war dance rooted in the South Pacific. Maake Kemoeatu, a rookie from Utah trying to make the team as a defensive tackle, was born in Tonga and played scholastically in Hawaii.

"I heard that Mulitalo had always finished camp doing the New Zealand Maori war dance," Kemoeatu said. "I thought I would join him, finish off camp with a good note. I'd done it before back on the islands, and Ed said he liked having someone to do the haka with."

Maybe he can teach it to Haynesworth.

The Background

Kemo has three brothers who played Division I football, with Chris -- a guard for the Steelers -- the most accomplished on the field. Their father ran a construction business during their childhood, didn't want his kids playing football, kept them away from television, and stressed the value of hard work. Here, for example, is a tale from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The proposed wall in question was four stories high. Too high and apparently too much for Chris Kemoeatu and older brother Ma'ake to help build.

Manako Kemoeatu gave his two oldest sons only two days to carry various supplies -- rocks, cement, water -- to the top of a steep hill so he could build the wall. On the second day, however, Chris and Ma'ake were both so exhausted they became convinced they couldn't finish their portion of a job that didn't pay very well in the first place.

That isn't the point, Manako told his sons. If you don't finish, how will we feed our family with the money I'm supposed to earn for building the wall? He made them a promise: If they somehow completed the Herculean task, any other challenges they faced in life would seem small by comparison. Somehow, Chris and his brother finished the job, lugging the remaining supplies to the top of the hill. The wall was built."

Not sure if this is a parable or if it actually happened.

The Chef

The Tribune-Review also reported that Maake and Chris head back to Hawaii in the offseason, where the custom is for the men to do all the cooking.

"In keeping with that tradition, Chris prepares huge feasts with Ma'ake consisting of wild pigs, cows and chickens that they personally hunt and cook outside on wooden poles," the paper reported.

The brothers also still speak Tongan in their parents' home. Not sure yet how to say "wild pig on a wooden pole" in Tongan, but I'll try to find out.

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Sellers Drops a 'Cowgirls' Reference

Mike Sellers has sort of gotten over the media darling thing; he doesn't seem to hold forth quite as much as he used to back in the day. I'm also sensing that a lot of fans have gotten over their previous infatuation with Mike Sellers, who might not qualify as "fan favorite" any more.

But when he does talk, you're reminded why people liked him so much in the first place. Here are four reasons, gleaned from his short post-game interview Sunday afternoon with Larry Michael and RedskinsTV.com:

1) He understands how the Redskins are supposed to play football.

"Man, we got back to playing Redskin football," he said. "We ran the heck out of that ball. Plain and simple, that's what we do. And coaches put us in a great position to make plays, and we just kept pounding it, and pounding it, and pounding it, and pounding it, and pounding it."

2) He's sometimes sort of scary. Like, as he finished saying that, he stared into the camera. See above. The man knows how to stare. Also how to grow intimidating facial hair.

3) He's honest-ish.

"Your boy Betts had over 100 yards rushing, and Rock came in and spelled him a lot and did well," Sellers was asked. Or told, I guess.

"They looked good, huh?" Sellers said. "I'm gonna leave it at that."

Might seem nondescript, until you watch the tape and see his eyes roaming to the sky, rolling around like grapes on grease, see the "I'm not going there" smiles creasing his face, and remember how he had a slight disagreement with injured star Clinton Portis earlier in the season, when Portis asked coaches to bench Sellers. So, yeah. Let's leave it at that.

(And before you accuse me of making up fake controversies, watch the interview yourself.)

4) He will rile up a fan base in pleasing, if slightly culturally unacceptable, ways.

"Who do you play next week?" Michael asked him to close the interview.

"Um, Cowgirls, right?" Sellers said.

Yup, Mike. That's right.

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